Bissell & Wal-Mart Steam Cleaner Suit

Bissell Homecare and Wal-Mart are in hot water this week after a class action lawsuit accusing the companies of selling steam cleaners that don’t produce “and are incapable of producing steam” was filed in Birmingham, Alabama Federal Court. The lawsuit accuses Bissell and Wal-Mart of breach of warranty and violating federal law under the Racketeer Influenced and Corruption Organization Act (RICO).

“Bissell, with Wal-Mart’s full knowledge and consent, names its products ‘power steamers,’ ‘steam vacs’ and ‘steam cleaners’ despite the fact that the devices will never produce even a puff of steam,” says the Wal-Mart & Bissell RICO Class Action Lawsuit. “Defendants expressly warrant that these devices are ‘steam cleaners’ even though they are not.”

The lawsuit alleges that even though “steam” is used in Bissell’s’ product names, they are “totally incapable of producing any steam. Instead, these products use ordinary hot tap water that is unheated by the product.” It further alleges that Wal-Mart has “full and complete knowledge that Bissell ‘steam’ cleaners do not, in fact, produce steam, [yet] continues to sell them in their stores and profit from consumers who are purchasing them.”

“By delivering a product that is not, in fact, a ‘steam’ cleaner, which by definition would produce and use steam in the cleaning process, [Bissell and Wal-Mart] have breached their express warranty made directly to” class members, the lawsuit states. “Each member of the plaintiff class have suffered damages in the form of being delivered a product worth substantially less than the product as warranted would have been worth.”

The Wal-Mart & Bissell RICO Class Action Lawsuit is seeking certification for a nationwide class of individuals who have purchased a Bissell Steam Cleaner or PowerSteamer from Wal-Mart within the last six years. It’s seeking compensatory damages, plus interest, costs and other relief. A copy of the Wal-Mart & Bissell RICO Class Action Lawsuit can be read here.